On Iraq:
Biden on Meet the Press in 2002, discussing Saddam Hussein: Hes a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world.--
Biden on Meet the Press in 2002: Saddam must be dislodged from his weapons or dislodged from power.--
Biden on Meet the Press in 2007, on Husseins WMDs: Well, the point is, it turned out they didnt, but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued.--
Biden, on Obamas Iraq plan in August 2007: I dont want [my son] going [to Iraq],-- Delaware Sen. Joe Biden said from the campaign trail Wednesday, according to a report on Radio Iowa. But I tell you what, I dont want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years and so how we leave makes a big difference.-- Biden criticized Democratic rivals such as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama who have voted against Iraq funding bills to try to pressure President Bush to end the war. Theres no political point worth my sons life,-- Biden said, according to Radio Iowa. Theres no political point worth anybodys life out there. None.--
Biden on Meet the Press, April 29, 2007: The threat [Saddam Hussein] presented was that, if Saddam was left unfettered, which I said during that period, for the next five years with sanctions lifted and billions of dollars into his coffers, then I believed he had the ability to acquire a tactical nuclear weapon not by building it, by purchasing it. I also believed he was a threat in that he was every single solitary U.N. resolution which he agreed to abide by, which was the equivalent of a peace agreement at the United Nations, after he got out of after we kicked him out of Kuwait, he was violating. Now, the rules of the road either mean something or they dont. The international community says Were going to enforce the sanctions we placed-- or not. And what was the international community doing? The international community was weakening. They were pulling away.--
Biden to the Brookings Institution in 2005: We can call it quits and withdraw from Iraq. I think that would be a gigantic mistake. Or we can set a deadline for pulling out, which I fear will only encourage our enemies to wait us out equally a mistake.--
Analyzing the surge on Meet the Press, September 9, 2007: I mean, the truth of the matter is that, that the Americas this administrations policy and the surge are a failure, and that the surge, which was supposed to stop sectarian violence and long enough to give political reconciliation, theres been no political reconciliation... The reality is that, although there has been some mild progress on the security front, there is, in fact, no, no real security in Baghdad and/or in Anbar province, where I was, dealing with the most serious problem, sectarian violence. Sectarian violence is as strong and as solid and as serious a problem as it was before the surge started.--
Biden in October of 2002: We must be clear with the American people that we are committing to Iraq for the long haul; not just the day after, but the decade after.--
On Meet the Press, January 7, 2007, assessing the proposal of a surge of troops to Iraq: If he surges another 20, 30, or whatever number hes going to, into Baghdad, itll be a tragic mistake, in my view, but, as a practical matter, theres no way to say, Mr. President, stop.--
